The First Five Years is the story of what Andreas Hossmann, an immigrant from Switzerland, experienced and learned during the five-year period he was requested by the Immigration Authorities to reside within Canada before becoming eligible to apply for Canadian Citizenship. It is an autobiographical novel in which the author tells what requirements existed for a person who wanted to immigrate to Canada a few decades ago and had to be fulfilled by that person before the Immigration Authorities granted permission to do so; how immigrants fought for acceptance into the Canadian society, were discriminated against and exploited for not having 'Canadian Experience', as the majority of employers maintained; how immigrants persevered against all odds, accepted or rejected or modified the prevailing customs to their own liking without, however, becoming a nuisance or liability to society; how most immigrants cherished the new way of life, found employment and their place in the Canadian society, and became useful and law-abiding citizens, while a few could not cope with it and returned to their homeland or left to settle in the United States of America.